


Beyond Doubt

by gekijougai



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Alcohol and Smoking, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Catholic Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Hylian Religion modeled after Catholicism I guess, Hylian Revali, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Non-Linear Narrative
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:48:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28933527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gekijougai/pseuds/gekijougai
Summary: Link is an altar server who meets Revali, a non-believer.
Relationships: Link/Revali (Legend of Zelda)
Kudos: 22





	Beyond Doubt

**Author's Note:**

> sooooo i made hylia's religion function the same as catholicism. i also wouldn't say i'm well versed in church practices, as a lot of this is also based on times i got to participate in masses myself. if there are inaccuracies, i'm sorry, and if some things sound made up, that's because it probably is.
> 
> this is a self-indulgent fic, so it's more of a way to verbalize my thoughts and feelings as a queer kid living in a very catholic environment (home and school!). even if i made this for me, i hope you still find some enjoyment out of it.

“All this is a waste of time.”

For the past few weeks, the man with blue, braided hair has been sitting on the same bench at the corner of the church where Link also prayed. Every time, he would leave minutes before the mass would start. 

Perhaps no one else has noticed him, so Link has also taken up residence on the lonely bench and prayed beside him until it was time for him to leave. It isn’t a strange occurrence for people to enter the church with nothing else but to _be_ around, though, this is only the first time he has ever heard him speak.

He turns his head around from where he’s kneeling, watching the man’s bored face as he crosses his legs. He seems to have noticed Link’s attention, but he pays no mind as he continues to talk. To him or to himself, Link isn’t sure. He proceeds to sit on the bench instead, near the man but not beside him.

“You do the same thing every few hours, every week, for the rest of your life.” The person turns to him with a look that isn’t exactly smug, but more with a hint of disgust. “Surely, that would drive you insane, wouldn’t it?”

Link stares at him. If he were other people, he would be asked to leave for trying to be… disruptive. He has known of these kinds of people before. Why wouldn’t he, when the world always inhabited things of two extreme ends? He’s not surprised.

People like him always had an air of superiority about them, and if anything Link would leave him alone to go back to the other servers to prepare for the mass.

The bells chime, and the man instead exits the church, leaving Link alone by the bench.

-

He continues to sit on the same bench and Link continues to sit beside him. Truthfully, he should be sitting beside the fellow servers, but he doesn’t see any bond with them, even if he has been part of the church for the longest time. It’s easier that way, distancing himself from them and only letting himself be around them when mass would start.

They either don’t notice him when he’s away, or they’ve gotten used to him materializing behind them when he needed to. Link doesn’t complain.

The person beside him looks around the same age, maybe a little older. At least, that’s what he thinks from the briefest moment that he was able to look at him. Link just looks straight ahead, staring at the church’s Goddess statue adorned behind the altar. He frowns and thinks about what he has said. _A waste of time?_ Link doesn’t think he wasted his life away with the same routine, nor does he hate what he’s doing. When you’ve grown up doing the same thing all your life, it’s less of a chore and more of an integral part of your life, probably.

The bells chime, signaling the start of the mass.

“Shouldn’t you be there with them?” The blue-haired person’s words snap him out of his thoughts, and he turns to him again. There he is again, with crossed arms and crossed legs, and Link wonders why he’s even there in the first place when he obviously seems to hate this place.

“Who are you?”

His voice is rough, but he asks anyway. 

He looks at him with a raised eyebrow. “Revali.”

-

If there's anyone he's eternally grateful for, it's Zelda.

It was by chance that he became her friend when they became classmates for a school year once, but ever since he had followed her around and stayed by her side when he got the chance. They would say Link was like Zelda’s right-hand man, her sidekick, her _knight._ Zelda didn’t like the implications of any of them and would complain to Link why he didn’t find friends anywhere else.

He spent those next few weeks eating alone until Zelda apologized to him and told him things weren’t the same without him. He couldn’t really fault her or be angry at her if he tried, he was just glad to be by her side.

The other boys in the school weren’t as forgiving as her. Even with the same interests, there was something about them that prevented Link from wanting to ever engage with them, save for a few group projects that he couldn’t get out of. He was used to pushing away his discomfort, but even then, he could never find a friend in them, too.

Zelda caught on and kept Link close to him ever since.

Link just wondered every night what made him different, his prayers seemingly fruitless when he'd wake up with his questions unanswered.

-

One day, he catches the blue-haired man outside of the gates of the church, texting away on his phone as the street lights illuminate his figure.

Link approaches him and he looks up before he could get any closer.

“If you’re planning to recruit me for the church service, I’m not interested.”

He must have heard the ending mass announcements. Link frowns.

“This isn’t what it’s for.”

The other, Revali, relaxes, but still lets his guard up. “Then what is it? Planning to lecture me about the Goddess and that I could still be saved? How about you save me the trouble instead.”

Why is this guy so infuriating? Link has spoken to him a maximum of eight words, and now he’s being unnecessarily defensive when all he did was towards his direction.

“It’s not that, either.”

They stand still under the night. Link really should be going home.

“You’ve been hearing me complain about Hylia. What else am I supposed to think?”

And it’s true. He’d been talking to himself, or maybe even to Link, about how meaningless the mass is. It’s all the more confusing because he himself still sat in the church, even if he left before the choirs would even start singing. He would talk about his irritation, the hypocrisy that runs deep in the system that the leaders have. 

_“It would not surprise me if they’d already bastardized the religion for their own sake,”_ Revali had muttered under his breath while Link fiddled with his candle holder beside him.

And Link doesn’t mind it, to be honest.

He’s the only one he knew who shared the same sentiments as he did.

“Maybe I agree.” He watches Revali widen his eyes in small surprise. It’s dangerous, probably, since he doesn’t know him. "You don’t have to be hostile, you know.”

Link lets himself take a step. The other doesn’t seem to mind anymore, so Link finds himself standing beside him.

-

_“I like you, Link.”_

Link had known Mipha liked him for a long time. It was hard not to, especially when you’ve been friends since children and the little things are easy to pick up on. 

He just didn’t know how to deal with it.

He cared for her, truly. He loved Mipha, he cared for her as a friend would. But he couldn’t reciprocate her feelings. 

Mipha’s hand shook in his grasp, but he couldn’t provide the reassurance she wanted.

_“I’m sorry, Mipha. I care about you, but…”_

He couldn’t forget the pained look on her face when she accepted his words. He was already guilty at the thought of hurting her, but he knew there was no going back. He couldn’t live with himself knowing he was lying straight to her face about his feelings just so he can make her happy.

But Mipha’s gracious. Mipha’s kind, and Mipha’s pained smile told him, _“It’s okay. I’m just glad to be your friend.”_

It wasn’t the end of his friendship with Mipha. In fact, it was like they became closer because of that confession. It was because of her that Link accepted himself for who he was.

_“You shouldn’t spend your time worrying about how others feel. Don’t worry about hurting me, Link. My feelings are mine to deal with, not for you to agonize over.”_

She smiled like the morning sun, and her fierce red hair flowed like the water. Link wondered how he ever deserved someone like Mipha in his life.

He bit back his guilt and thanked her.

-

The streets are muted in his ears as the glinting waters below him fill him with a gentle uproar. The sky is blue, dotted with clouds that do little to cover the sun. The rays hit him with warmth; not with scorching heat, but with a gentle caress.

He and Revali watch the river flow by the bridge, the exhaustion of the day catching up to them. He had seen Revali near the school gates, which would have surprised him had the church not be connected with the school. When they exchanged a look, they walked beside each other with nothing else to say, only letting the cars and voices of pedestrians occupy that space between them.

He wonders if Zelda and Mipha would be proud of him for having a friend outside of them for once.

“Do you like it?” Revali asks, breaking the silence. He drinks the soda they both had a while ago from a vending machine, lazily swaying the can in his fingertips. “Being an altar boy, I mean.” Revali huffed, finding his own question ridiculous.

Link thinks otherwise but is unable to find a proper answer himself. 

“It’s what I’m used to, so it’s not bad.” He says instead, the can trembling in his grip.

“I didn’t ask that. I asked if you liked it… if you’re happy about it.”

He can’t really bring himself to hate something he’s been doing his whole life. When it’s been a part of your everyday routine, who really are you when you’re suddenly deprived of it, despite your emotions regarding it?

But…

“I don’t know,” Link looks down. He drinks from his can, only to find that it’s already empty. He sighs. “It’s not ideal, but it’s what I have.”

-

Link grew up serving the Goddess Hylia, with his father being a Lay Minister himself. It was clear that he wanted Link to follow in his footsteps, and Link never opposed doing so.

In the modern day, it isn’t uncommon for the religion to have become lenient over the years, but Link knows that he and his father were a lot more devoted than most people are, even among his classmates. They attended mass diligently, and it’s easier knowing they were both parts of the service. The only times he wasn’t able to attend mass were days when he was sick, and his father would expect him to attend them the next time he was well enough to go by himself.

But instead of attending mass, those days had him ending up moving far away from the church and into the wilderness, away from civilization.

The nature surrounding him weren’t the wilds, and still only had a few people coming by. It's more like a park. The world is busy, after all.

He would stray away from the path and into where dead trees lay. The noise of voices would turn into chirping cicadas and the crunch of rotten leaves under his feet. He would often be lost in thought as if merging with the nature around him.

How different things would be if this was where he truly belonged.

But Link knew that would never be the case. He had people to come back home to, and he couldn’t stay in the forest forever. Those moments of freedom still came with loneliness, and he wondered when he would ever find that freedom in someone.

By the time he would get home, he’d look up to the sky, wanting to ask the Goddess Hylia the questions he prayed to her every night.

-

When his service would end, Link also quickly became accustomed to walking with Revali after mass. He still didn't know how to ask him why he went to church despite his opinions, and the distance between them tells Link that it’s not the time, not yet.

Link never thought he’d be able to find a friend in someone like Revali. Not only because he’s a stranger who was sitting beside him one day, but because Link quickly discovers how _self-important Revali is._

If Revali had been a part of his school, he would have found himself in a never-ending torment of Revali’s boisterous voice.

Link also quickly learns that Revali is a master in archery. _A master of masters,_ Revali eloquently puts it, boasting that among all the people in the village he came from, he’s the best of the best. Because why not be that representative talent, right?

“I’d take you on, Link,” Revali says after Link tells him of his own talent in sports. “It’s not every day you can be graced with someone of expertise.”

Link laughs. “I don’t think I need that if I have myself to exist.”

“Getting cocky now, are you?”

“It’s not like I’ve competed against anyone to test that. Want to be the first?”

Revali lightly pushes Link towards the road as they’re walking by the pavement. “As _your_ experiment? Not a chance, altar boy.”

“I’ll swing the candle holder in your face, then.”

They laugh as they elbowed and shoved each other in the streets they’re walking in. Link didn’t want to go home even though they’re aimless in their small journey. 

As the afternoon sun gets covered by the night, they found themselves in the same place Link saw Revali in when he first saw him outside of the church. Revali must have recalled, too, because he settles in the same spot he was in as if reminiscing. This time, he just stood there, looking up into the sky, past the street lights, and into the stars. 

Link just follows suit, except he lays his eyes on Revali instead, feeling a pang in his chest that’s both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.

“Revali?”

“Hm?”

Link knows he’s putting down the mood. He doesn’t know why he’s saying this. “I could only watch people to compare to me. I haven’t really… found anyone as a competitor at all.”

“Then it’s perfect, don’t you think?”

“It’s not that! I…” He clenches his fist, looking at Revali straight in the eye. “I’ve never had someone like that at all. I mean… I mean that you’re the only friend I have from the guys in my classes. Even in the church, I can never get close to any of them.”

Revali tilts his head, and Link’s eyes fall to his shoes. “I couldn’t, especially when the religion teachers would keep saying being gay is sinful.” Link laughs bitterly. “Even if I comforted myself now, there’s no undoing what they’ve tried to instill in me.”

He could still remember how his teachers would joke about it, trying to connect with their students and feeling the horror of everyone else laughing beside them. He couldn’t argue back, because how _would_ be able to argue when all his life he stayed silent? Besides, it’s not like he wanted to get some violation report for attempting to talk back, or worse, outing himself among the people who were laughing _at_ him. It was clear they saw people like him as _less._

Link has always been the odd one out, might as well separate himself on his own terms without anyone knowing what he really is.

“Have you told anyone about this?”

He thinks back to Mipha and Zelda, who accepted him with welcoming arms despite his blunt admission in an attempt to downplay it. “Yes. The two of them are the only ones who know.”

Link sighs. He might have ruined a possible friendship, but Revali is one person and his classmates are several. And it’s not like Revali is even in his school. Might as well lay his heart open before it could go worse and save himself from pain much worsened because of Link’s secrecy.

Instead, Revali grips his shoulders. Link looks up, and Revali offers him a smile that breaks him into pieces.

“For what it’s worth, Link, you’re not the only one who feels that way,” Revali says, chuckling as Link almost deflates in his touch. “You have nothing to worry about here.” 

-

“I fear, sometimes, that I’ve done something wrong.” Link confesses, unable to stop himself. “Every day, I can’t make myself look at the Goddess statue without… without feeling like…”

“Like you’ll be damned to hell for even thinking about anything?”

Link nods, a blush heating his cheeks in embarrassment. It doesn’t help that Revali laughs, but he knows it’s not out of mockery. He doesn’t know how, of all people he’s been with, it’s with Revali that he cannot stop his words from reaching out.

Link sits next to Revali on the park bench, swirling his soda in his hands. He takes this moment of close proximity to study his face, still holding his prideful stature. Everything about Revali is sharp, but he’s not rough around the edges like Link. His cold and meticulous nature makes it seem like he’s a blade whose slices are as thin as paper cuts.

Link has never been this intimate with anyone in his life, but with Revali it’s as if it’s all natural to him.

“All these old men do is tell you what should and what shouldn’t. They think anything can damn you to hell without a second thought.” Revali remarks, his green eyes reflecting the street lights. “You think you’ll go to hell for kissing a guy? Personally, I won’t let sleazy bastards deem what is right and wrong for me, not when they’re the biggest hypocrites of all.”

Link chuckles, leaning against Revali. He supposes he’s right, but the thought only makes his insides churn uncomfortably. He had been in the church all his life, but he could not find the same solace in prayer as he did when he was younger. Would the Goddess forgive him, after all his neglect? Would he still forgive him when the moment comes that he would abandon her?

“I just… wonder how different things would be… if they were kinder.”

If they had taught him that who he is wasn’t anything wrong, or if he had been surrounded by better people instead? If he actually found a friend in his fellow altar boys, or if they had treated his difference from them with respect? Link’s aware of his own values and trusts his own words, but if the people around him were at least encouraging, how much of that would help his faith?

Or that maybe, instead of resentment, would he have accepted this religion instead of having it as something that ate him away?

“That’s the unfair part, isn’t it?” Revali says as he holds his shoulders firmly to ground him. “That they don’t care, and that you will never get the apologies you deserve. The only option for us is to move on because it’s not like we can avenge our hurt against the people who hurt us in the past, can we?”

Link leans into his touch, the tears threatening to spill out of his eyes. “What if I don’t know how?”

Revali’s hand leaves his shoulder and pulls him down, burying Link’s head in his neck. He strokes his hair as Link lets go of the tears, his silent sobs softly escaping his lips. 

“Then it’s never wrong to learn it as you go.” Revali reassures.

Link lifts his head, his face glistening with his tears and his pain. Revali’s smile is devastating.

-

“I didn’t know you smoked.”

“Does it bother you?”

Link leans on the balcony and pulls out a bottle of beer from his bag. “No.”

Revali smirks, blowing out smoke. “I didn’t know you drink.”

Link laughs. He takes out a bottle opener and pockets the cap before drinking the beer, letting the bitter taste heat up his throat. Revali’s apartment is modest, its lights dim among the plethora of buildings swimming in his vision in the cold night. It’s terrifying if he were honest, to see the crowded vastness stretching across especially when he was more used to the silent nothingness of the forests he used to play in.

But Revali’s apartment, Revali’s _presence_ seems to counter all of that. He’s loud and rash, filled to the brim with pride (and a superiority complex, but Link will never say that), but everything _Revali_ allows him to escape. 

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Smoke escapes from Revali’s lips. The dark room feels claustrophobic, almost, but with just the two of them, the heaviness has freed itself from Link. How has he felt free with something so small?

“I don’t think I’ve ever allowed myself the chance to just… be like this.”

The bottle in his fingers makes him tremble with the cold. He remembers how he would smuggle at least alcohol into his room, drinking until his vision fogs and he couldn’t find it in himself to stand anymore. There was something easy about losing his inhibitions in favor of not being able to think about anything. Besides, he knows that he isn’t some chaotic fucker disturbing everything around them when they get drunk.

He bitterly laughs at the realization that his sorrows still manage to pin him down even in a lost state.

Revali doesn’t pay him any mind as Link continues to watch him, seeing the smoke slip past his lips and his hooded eyes blink in exhaustion. Link has barely even drunk half of his bottle, but the sight of Revali himself already makes him dizzy.

He can’t seem to hide from Revali, unlike with any other person he has known in his life. He came into his life, rudely, _intruding_ , for lack of a better term. No, no one else has allowed him to be like this. In all of Revali’s sharp, crass being, it’s only in him did he find any sort of relief the world around him has robbed him of for so long.

“If you want to kiss me, Link, you can just ask.” Revali jokes, still apathetic to Link’s intense staring. 

He swallows dryly, the bitter aftertaste of the beer sitting on his tongue. “What if I do? What if I really want to kiss you?”

Revali frowns, and Link’s stomach drops. “You’re not drunk, aren’t you?”

“If I were, I would have ended up crying on you instead.” Link comically shows him his still nearly full drink as if to bring it home. Revali’s eyes trail towards his hand, still unsure, like he wants to stop Link. “I’m not stupid, Revali.”

He grabs Link’s free wrist, still having the cigarette between his fingers. The touch is electrifying. “This isn’t an ideal love confession, you know,” Revali says, his tense voice unable to downplay his words with sarcasm.

Nothing about this is ideal. He’s drinking somewhere else besides his room for once, but it doesn’t change the fact he’s still drinking his sorrows somewhere _else_ and drinking in the place of the only person who made him feel the freedom of flight for the first time. 

Better circumstances, better places. Link doesn’t ever recall a moment in his life where love felt like love and not _guilt_ because he’s never the person everyone wants him to be.

“It isn’t.” Link says bluntly. “But maybe it’s best that way.” To see him for who he truly is, to see him as someone who isn’t as perfect as the people around him think he is. 

“You’re reckless,” Revali starts, but still not letting him go. “Hopeless. You’re set on your goals no matter how much it will hurt you. Stupid, no, but I’d call you idiotic if your persistence wasn’t so sincere.”

“If you don’t like me back, Revali, you can just tell me.” Link responds quietly, his poor imitation of Revali’s tone lost in his dread.

“I never said anything like that!” Revali hurriedly says, almost flushing. “Aren’t you worried? You’re presented with a chance, and you throw yourself into it without thinking of the consequences.”

Link freezes. The condensation on his bottle seems to have gone.

Revali sighs. “I… I like you, Link.” It’s different when Revali says it. It’s always different with him. “I just don’t know if you should be with _me._ ”

“Would it really be that bad?” Link deflates. “They say it never hurts to try, yet they hurt me anyway. I told you, you’re the only one who allowed me to be… this.”

Something eases inside of him when he realizes Revali’s afraid, too. After all, they only met through chance, when they sat next to each other in the church. Revali, obnoxious and calling everything _asinine,_ and Link, lost and unsure with what he truly believes in.

Revali’s cigarette falls to the ground, lowering their wrists until his fingers entangle in between them. Link stares at him, a blush dusting his skin, darker in the night. 

“I can still kiss you, right?”

Revali laughs, bringing Link closer to him. He could still smell the smoke. It makes him shiver.

Maybe it’s fucked up, and it’s not like Link has fallen in love like this before, but perhaps his ugly, beating heart still has a place here.

Link takes a swig from his bottle and kisses Revali fully on the lips.

-

“You think you can spare a weekend with me, Revali?”

“You’re in luck,” Revali smirks. “Good thing I don’t have anything scheduled.”

Unlike Link, who definitely had something scheduled that day. But he paid no mind, his homework is still unfinished but Revali is more important. 

They find a seat in the cramped bus, with Link paying for both of them because he insisted that it was his treat for the day. He just wants to show Revali the place where _he_ felt free before he came along in his life. Looking out the window, Link takes Revali’s hand beside him, and the heat reaches his face as Revali squeezes his hand.

“Where are you taking me?”

“You’ll see.”

It isn’t that long of a ride, with Link pushing Revali out of the seat so they can get to their destination. From the stale, cold air of the bus to the rewarding gusts of wind, he lets the weight of the situation dawn on him: he’s showing Revali where he escapes, showing him his place of solace that he likes to call his own. Even if the place was for the public to stroll by anyway, his knowledge of the place let him go deeper and farther from what anyone deems a comfortable distance.

To Link, this distance _is_ his comfort.

As more trees flourish his sight, his hand finds its way back to Revali. 

“I wanted to show you this place,” Link tells him, his footsteps slowing down. “It’s where I go when…” _It gets too much. When I don’t know what to do._ Link doesn’t continue the thought. Instead, he says, “When I was starting to lose faith in prayer. It’s like it brings me more comfort than the Goddess ever did.”

Revali doesn’t say anything, and his face breaks into a grin. He doesn’t let go but he stops in his tracks to look down on Link’s face before settling a soft kiss on his lips and leaning on his forehead when they break apart.

“You know you didn’t have to do this.”

“But I wanted to,” Link whispers, looking deep into his green eyes and feeling his heart jump out of his chest. “It’s the least I could do for you.”

Revali snorts, but Link sees pink dust on his cheeks and laughs.

“One day,” Revali says, letting go of his hand and cupping his cheek. “I’ll show you the sky.”

-

“You don’t believe in the Goddess,” Link starts, laying beside Revali on his bed. “But why did you come to the church?”

Revali sighs. “I was… angry and stressed. I had stopped going to masses a long time ago, but the church was the quietest thing I could find. It kept me sane.”

“You used to go to church?”

“Forced, mostly. I never wanted to be there.” Revali scoffs. He turns his body until he’s facing Link. “It took until me getting my own place to get out of being dragged into attending mass, but I guess in the end I still found myself going back to it. I don’t have anything against the ones who choose to follow it since birth, but I’d rather believe in something on my own.”

Link raises an eyebrow. “...Why did you come back to it?”

Revali hums as he wonders. Link doesn’t think he has ever seen someone as beautiful as Revali. “What else? Even the safest places made me want to lose my mind. If you had nothing else, wouldn’t you want to come back to somewhere familiar?”

-

“It’s the first time you’ve ever asked to talk with you, Link.” Zelda grins, the reflections of the candles swaying warmly against her skin. “I still remember when I was the one who would always drag you around.”

Link stares into flames. She is accustomed to visiting this quiet part of the vicinity, with the tiny candles being the only source of light alongside tiny makeshift windows above them in the chapel. The guilt eats at him a little as if he hasn’t allowed himself to be more open with her the whole time he has known her. Now with the confession on the tip of his tongue, he starts to wonder if it would be worth disappointing her.

“I’m sorry, Zelda,” Link starts, hoping it would end as soon as possible. There’s no good in stalling, so might as well push through instead of backing out. “I’m thinking of quitting the service. I’m sorry if this isn’t what you expected.”

Zelda’s eyes widen. Link fidgets in the silence, staring off ahead. The votive candles have melted and the stands have rusted with age. The chapel sheltering them hasn’t changed in the years he and Zelda had when they would be here, but the discomfort of ruining something he has held on to for so long hung in the air. Zelda has been his closest friend, and he doesn’t know how he’d deal with the aftermath of falling off.

Surprisingly, Zelda laughs.

“I was wondering when you’d say that.” She sighs, stepping next to him and joining him in arranging some of the fallen candles aimlessly.

“I was worried about what you’d say.” Link clenches his fist. “Because I know everyone else would be unhappy about it.”

“And hold the Goddess against you? I thought you know me better than that, Link.” Zelda remarks in jest. “The world always battles in two extremes and fails to see that things are grayer than that.”

When Link’s voice fails him, it’s always Zelda who offers the best insight, putting his thoughts into words. She’s always the one who understood him.

“When will you leave?”

Link shrugs. “I don’t know.”

She nods. “Just know I’ll help you with the paperwork when it comes around.”

They fall silent, and Zelda clasps her hand in prayer. He can never know what she thinks. 

-

_“Whatever the priests say, the teachers, our classmates, it’s wrong. It’s all wrong, Link. They’re wrong about Goddess Hylia. And you’ve never done anything wrong. She accepts you no matter what.”_

_-_

“It’s just that I—” His words fail him again, and comes back to the only feeling he can manage to communicate. “I’m not happy here.”

He knows from experience that such confessions wouldn’t get through many of the priests in the church. He may have to make up some excuse on why he doesn’t choose to join them anymore and wonders how unfair this all is. Even when he holds Zelda’s comfort near him, he still doesn’t feel like this is where he belongs.

She offers a sympathetic look. “You’re better off disappointing people rather than staying in a place where you aren’t happy.” Zelda pulls him into a hug, Link’s own arms wrapping around her. “And it’s not like you’ll ever disappoint me, Link. I’m glad you're off to find that happiness. I also wonder if I’ll find that happiness for myself, too.”

Maybe it’s just… Zelda, as a person, but she’s so gentle. She doesn’t pity Link, and she just nods her head in understanding. She lays her heart to him a-matter-of-factly and doesn’t ask for any kind of comfort in return.

Zelda pulls away and looks up to Link. “The Goddess will forgive you.” She says, but she shakes her head and her grip on Link’s arm is firmer. “No, you have nothing to apologize for. She will always love you, Link.”

He wants to laugh at the irony of it, his fragile faith wanting to doubt everything Zelda said. But nothing about it is insincere, and among all the people that surrounded him his whole life, it was Zelda’s words that warmed with so much comfort, not guilt. As obvious it is, with her being the one more religious among the two of them, she understands her faith more than Link does. 

But he lets her bestow this… blessing unto him. He would have been turned away, as with the nuns and the priests in his life. But not her.

“I’ll always be here for you, you know.” Link promises. He knows himself that he can never leave her alone, even if they separate ways. It feels as if his life was destined to be that way. 

She smiles, the light of gentle fires embracing her skin. “And I, you.”

-

“You wondered how different things would be if people had been kinder to you.”

The church is silent, save for the few voices he hears from other conversing people spread throughout the place. They sat in their corner, as always, but it’s different with Link now. He thought that with Revali’s influence he would start hating his duties and service, but no matter how much he waited, the feeling never came. 

Link looks at him, raising his eyebrows. 

“Would you rather that that be the case?” He asks, staring ahead. “For you… to be able to continue your service?”

Link wants to say yes, but the underlying regret under those words stops him. Of course, it will, but would he favor this difference, and in turn, not have Revali?

They would call him selfish. Link calls it his pursuit for happiness.

“Maybe in another world, I have been treated right,” Link says, his trembling hand reaching out for Revali’s. He squeezes with reassuring fingers and Link lets out a shaky exhale. “But if things would turn out okay in the end, then I wouldn’t have it any other way, to be honest.”

Revali rolls his eyes and laughs, but the grip in his hand is firm and doesn’t let go. “That’s what I figured, I guess.”

And Link couldn’t bring himself to regret it, even if he tried. As strained things in his life might be—a feeling of tightness ghosting his chest every now and then—there’s hope in there that he can reach out and hold for as long as he’s alive. He can continue to live like this… it’s not much, but it’s much better than what he has previously imagined himself to be in.

And as long as Revali’s in there, maybe he’ll be alright.

He knows he has to leave soon and thinks he’ll serve the Goddess in deep reverence for the last time. He’s scared, but it’s in his belief that bravery isn’t the absence of fear, but pushing through despite it.

“Revali, I…”

Link doesn’t know what to say. He has long accepted that his words will always fail him, and he only hopes that Revali can understand.

He brings Revali’s hand up to his lips.

“Thank you.”

Revali’s face flushes a deep red, and they both laugh silently as Revali retracts his hand and playfully punches Link on his arm. “I’ll wait for you, Link. I’ll be here, so I’ll see you later.”

Link smiles and stands, reaching for the candle holder. The warmth of Revali’s hand stays on his skin, aiding him like phantom comfort. No, he never has to worry. Not when he has Revali.

The bells chime, and he walks towards the aisle.

**Author's Note:**

> revali ended up being so much nicer than i anticipated in this fic, but think of it as my take on a revali who got to deal with his issues properly and it's him who helps link this time or something... lol. it's also been 3 years since my last, blatantly romantic story! this was a struggle.


End file.
